Neptune OS released V5.4, which is a complete update with many enhancements
and fixes to the Debian-based distro. New features include a GUI
makeover with dark themes in mind, increased hardware support, and several
software and app updates. See the post
on Appuals for all the details and the changelog.

Slax
9.5.0 has been released. Slax is a "minimalistic, fully modular
operating system", and you can purchase it "preinstalled on an USB flash
drive with hardware-based AES encryption. This device is universally usable
because the encryption is performed directly by the drive itself, there is
no software to install needed. Once disconnected, the USB drive
automatically locks itself again". Payment is accepted only via Bitcoin.

Linux kernel 4.18-rc6 was released. Linus commented "So this was the week
when the other shoe dropped....The reason the
two previous rc releases were so nice and small was that David hadn't
sent me much networking fixes, and they came in this week.
That said, it's not really a huge rc this week either, so it's all
good." Source: LWN.net.

GNOME developers are redesigning its icons, so your desktop will soon be
more colorful, OMG Ubuntu
reports. In addition, "GNOME is deprecating the use of tiny icon sizes
in favour of symbolic icons, and will only require devs to ship a
'single, scalable, high resolution' app icon."

KDE Applications 18.08 has begun beta testing with version 18.07.80, and the release is scheduled
for August 16, 2018. The software suite is adding two new libraries:
KPkPass (for reading Apple Wallet pass files) and KItinerary (which consists of "itinerary extraction code and itinerary
data model used for data model, data extraction, and data augmentation").
See the announcement
and the KDE
Community Wiki for more information.

Jill Franklin is an editorial professional with more than 17 years experience in technical and scientific publishing, both print and digital. As Executive Editor of Linux Journal, she wrangles writers, develops content, manages projects, meets deadlines and makes sentences sparkle. She also was Managing Editor for TUX and Embedded Linux Journal, and the book Linux in the Workplace. Before entering the Linux and open-source realm, she was Managing Editor of several scientific and scholarly journals, including Veterinary Pathology,The Journal of Mammalogy, Toxicologic Pathology and The Journal of Scientific Exploration. In a previous life, she taught English literature and composition, managed a bookstore and tended bar. When she’s not bugging writers about deadlines or editing copy, she throws pots, gardens and reads. You can contact Jill via e-mail, ljeditor@linuxjournal.com.